A star among the stars

Ken Ehrlich has an insatiable love of music. At an early age, he learned to play piano—a talent he shared playing regular afternoon gigs at The Lantern, a hopping bar in Athens in the early 1960s. Ehrlich was an Ohio University student studying journalism, planning for a career in sports writing, but dreaming of a life in the music industry. It was his mother’s advice to consider broadening the skills he was learning at OHIO that led to Ehrlich enrolling in public relations courses—a move that would launch a professional pathway he could never have imagined.

The show must go on

It’s around 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 26, 2020. Ehrlich is at the Staples Center in Los Angeles with his team, running the last dress rehearsal for his 40^th and final production of the Grammy Awards show. On the floor, a hive of bodies is moving, running and laughing—there’s lots of laughter. People Ehrlich has worked with, known and met during his lifelong career in live music event production —musicians, producers, families and friends—are coming to his command center, long tables strung together with monitors, headsets and papers everywhere. There is lots of hugging, back-patting and smiling. Ehrlich receives them with the grace and joy of someone who is eternally grateful for his long and accomplished career, a chapter of which is about to close in an unexpected way.

Way up in the highest balcony seats, the Center’s workers climb ladders to reach the rafters where retired NBA Lakers’ jerseys hang. They are cloaking in black the jerseys of basketball legends—all except No. 8 and No. 24. The news of the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others earlier that morning has emerged, and with it, Ehrlich’s plans for the live broadcast must change.

Ehrlich is known for putting artistry ahead of ratings, for his easy collaborative style and for getting artists to a place where their performance reflects their authenticity. He’s recognized as one who leads Music’s Biggest Night® with vision, confidence and a gentle yet encouraging hand when the situation demands it. The 1980 Grammy Awards marked the first of his now notable “Grammy Moments,” where artists who may not have naturally come together on their own collaborate to perform a number that reveals an unexpected side of each superstar’s talents. From that 1980 collaboration—a moving rendition of “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” from Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand—to the 2001 Grammys duet with Elton John and Eminem, Ehrlich’s “Grammy Moments” are quintessential milestones in music history.

Now, in a moment of shock, tragedy and loss, inside the very place where Kobe Bryant became a champion, there was no one more prepared to lead the way in what had to happen next than Ehrlich. Where chaos can take hold, he is the steady hand.

Ehrlich, who thrives on—and is perhaps at his best during—pressure, has been down this road before. When Luciano Pavarotti stepped away from performing at the Grammy Awards in 1998—after the live broadcast had begun—and instead Aretha Franklin memorably took the stage and brought the house down with her performance of “Nessun Dorma.” When news of the argument that turned violent between then-couple Rihanna and Chris Brown canceled both of their appearances in 2009, hours before airtime. When Whitney Houston’s untimely death happened less than 24 hours before the 2012 Grammy Awards. The show must go on, and Ehrlich was there to ensure the show would go on. These past experiences let him shine and put others at ease.

Setting the stage

When you watch Ehrlich during a Grammy Awards show dress rehearsal, you’ll see him call for a pause, leave his command post and head backstage. He is consulting with artists who ask for a word or two about their performance, who want to work through an issue or who need to have their nerves quieted. These are skills he’s perfected not only through his work with the Grammy Awards but while producing other television, special and live music events, including Primetime Emmy Awards, Global Citizen Festivals and PBS’ “In Performance at the White House.”

“...If I felt the artists were particularly nervous, if there was something that I could either say or you know, reassure [them],” that is what prompts the walks backstage, he says. “It's more reassurance than anything else.”

He’ll do it during the telecasts, too. He recalls such a time with Mary J. Blige during the dress rehearsal and before the live performance of her hit, “No More Drama,” for the 2002 Grammy Awards. Ehrlich had worked with her many times before, understood the raw power she possesses and knew the kind of electric performance she can give.

Blige was nervous. Ehrlich offered his steady hand.

“The night of the show…I could see she was literally shaking, and I said, ‘Look, this is it. This is the one that counts now.’ I said, ‘Forget about all the other shit. Just do this one—like you've never done it before.’” Ehrlich demurs that he contributed to the now-famous performance Blige gifted to the world, but one can’t deny that steady hand at work.

Showtime

It’s approaching 5 p.m. The seats in the Staples Center are filling up for the broadcast, one for the books in the wake of the day’s tragic news and in hindsight of it when it aired—53 days before California’s “stay-at-home” order was first issued because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Ehrlich takes the stage, pleading good naturedly with everyone: “Please sit down. We are five minutes to air. Please, everybody, take your seats.”

Then, as all good leaders do, Ehrlich puts into context the extraordinary events of the day and the extraordinary night ahead, focusing everyone into being in the present moment with him.

“I have an old friend,” he begins, “who says that pressure makes diamonds. And trust me, this past couple of weeks have really defined the word pressure, right up to a few hours ago.”

“You know what we say here at the Grammys?” he continues. “They're Grammy moments because you make the Grammy moments. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe in you, and I believe we’re going to have a great night tonight. Thank you again. You’re a great crowd. Congratulations on everything you’ve done to get here.”

And with that, the 62^nd Grammy Awards live telecast begins.

The finishing touches

Despite the show’s changes to honor Bryant, Ehrlich pressed on, determined to make his last Grammy Awards as memorable as all of his others. He made decisions and pivots like he has for the past 40 years, rehearsing the number by Lil Nas X and K-pop band BTS twice because of its complex, rotating set.

“The turntable worked both times, number one and number two. The performance just got better and smoother, and the artists got more confident...” he recalls.

Then there was the matter of how the show’s host, Alicia Keys, would address the day’s tragedy, starting from the top of the broadcast.

“I said, ‘I have some terrible news for you, but you need to know this, [and] you can’t let it affect you,’” Ehrlich explains. After he shared the tragic news, he reins in the worry and brings in the calm and the cool. “I said, ‘It’s going to affect the show and it’s going to change things, but I don’t want you to worry about it. Let’s get through the dress [rehearsal]. Then we will sit with you and we will have some ideas and you may have some ideas and let’s try to make it work.’ So, her idea was to get Boyz II Men, which was brilliant,” he says.

And then, Ehrlich says, “we kind of just time shifted.” Acts were moved around, everyone adapted and the rest of the night, his last as producer of the Grammy Awards, while tinged with shock and sadness, went off without a hitch.